The Trees
by LittleMissMollah
Summary: In which Blaine has an alcoholic father and Kurt is there to help. Rated M for description of abusive situations and use of alcohol. Please read and review! Whether it's praise or critique, any and all reviews are welcome.


A/N: This was originally a story I wrote for block class. It was a fictionalized memoir and it was about me and my friend Kylie. I decided to edit it and turn it into a angsty-with-a-happy-fluffy-ending friendship Klaine fic. I hope you like it!

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><p>A young boy sat on his bed, afraid. He could hear his parents yelling through his closed door. He was confused. <em>Why are they fighting? <em> He thought. _They love each other…don't they?_ He suddenly heard a loud slamming of the door. The boy ran to his window and saw his mother outside by the car. His dad was standing on the front step, and his older brother was standing in the doorway. The boy watched as his mom and dad fought. His mom was crying and she shook her head as she pulled away from her husband and got in the car. The boy watched her brother grab his dad's arms to prevent him from chasing after his wife. The car pulled out of the driveway and turned sharply onto the road before quickly disappearing.

The boy saw his older brother and his dad starting to fight again. They started going inside, and so the boy ran from the windowsill and sat at his desk. He tried to focus on his homework; he tried to pretend that everything was all right. His pencil, still sharp from disuse, scratched harshly against the paper. Sniffling, he rubbed his face against his sleeve, trying to wipe away his tears. He was trying to put on a strong face, because he knew that at any moment, his dad was going to come in, and he wouldn't be happy.

He was right: moments later, his dad stormed in, furious. The boy, still young, could smell the alcohol on his breath. He froze in her chair, terrified, as his dad started yelling at him. There was nothing he could do when he was like this. He was going to be angry at him no matter what. Even if he was perfect, even if he had perfect grades and never got into trouble, he would always find something wrong. So he sat, hoping that yelling was all he was going to do. The boy bit his lip, trying not to cry. His teeth pierced his lip and he could taste the blood. Knowing his dad would be upset, he tried not to do anything, he just sat there. There was nothing he could do that wouldn't make him angry. Luckily, when he started to cry, her brother came in and prevented things from getting physical. As soon as his dad was gone and the door was closed, the young boy began to cry. He was alone. Even though his brother tried to help him, he wasn't really there for him. His mom ran away. He knew his mom was going to be back, but then she would just leave again the next day. He had no one. And he was alone.

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><p>A few years later, the boy started high school. High school was terrifying. He didn't know anyone. He only had a few friends, and they were beginning to desert him for their boyfriends or girlfriends. He had started to feel as if there was no one that cared. He lived each day almost robotically, simply going through the motions of things. Every laugh, every smile, everything he ever said, it was all fake. He was wearing a mask and he didn't know how to take it off.<p>

Each day, he walked home from school. He would walk down the hill, across the main road, and down to the park. Sometimes he would walk on the road around the park, and sometimes he would take a shortcut through the forest. He had always felt a little bit of comfort going through the forest. The trees standing tall in the forest were there, they had always been there, and they would never _not _be there. Some days he would stop in the forest and just sit, or even walk through the trees. He wouldn't come home until it got dark, but he would always leave the forest in time so that he wouldn't get lost. The forest was more of a home to him than the house he lived in.

A few months into the school year, the boy started hanging out with a classmate. His name was Kurt Hummel. At first, they were just casual friends, and not really close. They started working on school projects together and walking around town on the weekends. Gradually they became very close. However, Kurt still didn't know about what was happening at the boy's home. He had guessed that something was wrong, but they had never really talked about it.  
>One day, while they were walking around, they found themselves in the forest by his house. Kurt had never been to his house, and this was the first time Kurt had been to this forest. For some reason, Kurt felt like it was a good time to bring up the topic of the boy's home.<p>

"Hey, Blaine…" Kurt began, a bit nervous. After all, if he's never talked about it, it might be a sensitive topic.  
>"Yeah?" He asked, glancing over at Kurt.<br>"How come you never talk about home?" Kurt asked. "I mean, I always complain about my dad and his girlfriend and stuff. How come you never talk about what it's like at your house?"  
>Blaine stopped walking and stared at the ground. "Oh, um… I'm sorry. I never really thought you'd want to know about that…"<br>"Hey…" Kurt said, stopping and putting my arm around him. "It's okay. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to. It's okay, really."  
>Blaine sniffed and Kurt watched as a couple of tears fell from his eyes. Kurt grabbed Blaine and pulled him into a tight hug. "Hey, it's okay," Kurt whispered, "it's going to be okay."<br>Blaine started sobbing into Kurt's shoulder. Later, after he was able to talk, they sat against one of the trees in the forest. They don't know how long they sat there, just talking. Blaine told Kurt about his parents and how they fought all the time, and how his dad was yelling at his brother, and how he was treated at home. They talked about how one day he was going to leave his home, how he was going to run away and leave them all behind. They started talking about other things, too. The conversation drifted to music, books, TV, all sorts of things. The only thing that mattered was that Blaine knew that he had a friend, a confidante, a person he could go to for anything. He was no longer alone.

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><p>During the summer, Kurt often found it hard to sleep. The sun didn't go down until late, and it was up again just as early. There were only a few hours of darkness every night. Most nights, he would stay up until it got light again, and only then he would fall asleep.<br>This was one of those nights. Kurt was sitting on his bed, the epitome of multi-tasking. He was watching a movie, IM-ing his only friend that was as crazy as he was, writing not one but _two_ short stories, reading his friend's blogs, and blogging on his own. It seemed impossible, right? Anyways, he was doing all this when his phone lit up. He wasn't surprised, some of his friends liked to text him in the middle of the night if they can't sleep. Kurt was surprised, however, when he noticed that it wasn't a text - it was a call. From Blaine.  
>He pulled off his headphones and answered the call, thinking he could just go back to the movie and everything in a bit. "Hello?" he answered, trying to be quiet so he didn't wake anyone up.<br>Kurt thought he heard Blaine crying. Kurt could definitely hear him sniffling, but he wasn't sure about the crying. "Blaine?" Kurt asked. "Are you okay? What happened? Where are you?" Sandwiching the phone between his ear and his shoulder, Kurt sent a quick IM to Mercedes, letting her know that he had a bit of an emergency and he had to go. As Kurt was typing, Blaine finally had enough energy to speak.  
>"I... I'm not okay. I'm just... I'm tired of this!" He could barely speak, and Kurt heard his voice break and Blaine started sobbing again.<br>"Blaine, just take a deep breath. Where are you?" Kurt wanted to know if Blaine was all right, but he knew that Blaine would panic if he bombarded him with questions. Kurt's heart was racing, and he tried to get warm clothes on instead of pajamas as he ran downstairs.  
>"I ran into the forest. I'm by… do you remember the tree where we first talked? When I told you about everything?"<br>Kurt searched his brain, trying to remember where Blaine was. "Yeah… yeah, I think so. Is that where you are? I'll come pick you up. Don't go anywhere!" Kurt ran outside, hopping in the car and starting it. He pulled out of the driveway, talking with Blaine and comforting him the entire way there.

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><p>Kurt found Blaine pacing in front of the tree, his arms folded tightly around his stomach. His head was down but he kept looking up to see if there was anyone there. Kurt could see that he had been crying. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.<br>"Blaine?" Kurt asked, taking a slow step towards him.  
>"You're here!" Blaine's face instantly relaxed, and he gave Kurt a sad smile. "I thought you would never come… I thought I was alone…"<p>

Kurt's heart sank at his words. His phone had lost signal on the way to the forest and he had dropped the call. Kurt stepped forward and pulled Blaine into a hug. "Blaine, I am so sorry. I will always be here for you."

He pulled away and nodded, smiling sadly. Kurt gently pulled him down and they sat with our backs against the tree. "So what happened?" he asked.

"I got out." Blaine whispered. "I couldn't take it anymore, and I got out. They were… they were fighting again. Mom didn't leave right away, she actually… she tried to kick Dad out. She tried to get him to leave."

"What happened then?"

"Dad didn't like it. He got angry. He… he hit her. Not like he normally does, but like… it was really bad. But do you know what the worst part was? My brother didn't even care."

"Blaine… I'm sure he cared, I'm sure he just-"

"No. He didn't care." Blaine said in a hoarse whisper. "No one cares. Not Mom, not Dad, not my brother, not anyone. I'm… I'm alone."

"You're not alone, Blaine." Kurt said, reaching out and hugging him. "You always have me. Always. Come on, why don't you come stay at my house for a bit? My dad will be okay with it."

"Can I just… Can I stay here for a bit?" He asked. "I kind of like the trees, and I'm not… I'm not ready to go anywhere just yet."

Blaine ended up falling asleep on Kurt's shoulder, and he fell asleep soon afterwards. They woke up in the forest to the sun streaming through the leaves. Kurt thought it was the sun that woke us up, but Blaine insisted it was the birds. When they woke up, the birds were loudly singing. Blaine and Kurt both woke up with headaches and backaches from sleeping against a tree, but they got in the car and drove home, looking forward to sleeping in their warm beds.

Later, Kurt talked to his dad about Blaine's situation. With their help, Blaine was able to convince her dad to join Alcoholics Anonymous and starting a 12-step program. Blaine lived at Kurt's house for a while, until his dad had been sober long enough that he was ready to come home. His mother started being home more often, since his dad was no longer drinking. They still fought sometimes, but it was never as bad as it used to be. They even managed to save up enough money (the money that would have been spent on his dad's alcohol) to buy a new house. Their new house was closer to Kurt's and it had a forest in her backyard. It wasn't the same forest, but it was a lot closer than the old forest was to his old house. Blaine and Kurt were closer than ever, because Blaine knew he could come to Kurt at any time of night or day and he would be there. Just like the old oak trees in her forest, Kurt would never leave him. 

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><p>AN: Did you like? Reviews get fluffy Klaine hugs and toast!


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